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How Powerball, Mega Millions have changed over the years

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – You shouldn’t be surprised to know it’s by design.

It has become the norm now for going weeks before having a winner, pushing the dollar amounts into the stratosphere. But with the bigger jackpots, come a downside...

The lines at lottery counters across the nation have been getting longer and longer these days.

Between the Powerball and Mega Millions across the country, there have been over $5 billion in Jackpots in the past six years.

if you are not a regular player here’s why this is the case:

For the Powerball before 2015, you’d pick five numbers from 1-59 and then one number from 1-35. Then the game was changed to where you can pick five numbers from 1-69 and then 1-26. This applied to the Mega Millions in 2017 as well.

Back in the day with the old game, you’d match five numbers from 1-75 and then a Mega Ball from 1-15.

Now you play to match five numbers 1-70 and then match a Mega Ball from 1-25. The odds of winning that billion dollars go up to over 1 in 300 million.

Maybe people are excited about tonight’s results. Click here to learn how to find winning number results


Learn more on how to play the Mega Millions here.